Mr Guerrand-Hermès lunged at the captain of an Air France flight, attempting to punch him after he stepped in to help a female passenger fend him off during a flight from Paris to New York, court papers have disclosed.

One fellow passenger described him as “like a man possessed” during the fracas in the first class compartment of the flight which took off from Charles de Gaulle airport on Tuesday evening. Mr Guerrand-Hermès, a transatalantic polo organiser and financier, is said to have had to be handcuffed to a seat in first class for the remainder of the flight before being arrested by FBI agents on arrival at John F Kennedy airport and brought before a federal court on air rage charges.

Mr Guerrand-Hermès, whose father Patrick is a former vice president of Hermès International and president of the Federation of International Polo (FIP), was around three hours into the flight, taking him to celebrate his 37th birthday, when the alleged incident unfolded. Court papers say that the socialite had drunk “quite a bit of alcohol’, as well as taking the prescription drug, Propofan, before perching on the arm rest of a female passenger, who was sitting near him in first class.

The woman roused her husband who told him to go away but he refused, according to the statement of complaint. As members of the flight crew tried to intervene, the captain stepped in asking him to calm down. Instead, he allegedly grabbed the pilot’s crotch shouting: “I am not going to behave myself,” and tried to throw a punch. A struggle with attendants ensued ending in Mr Guerrand-Hermès being handcuffed and tied to a seat. Described by friends as a “real live-wire who likes a laugh”, Mr Guerrand-Hermès is expected to become a major shareholder in the family controlled company when his 76-year-old father dies.

Just because you were turned down is no reason to get pissy.